Recording the intramolecular deformation of a 4-legs molecule during its STM manipulation on a Cu(2 1 1) surface

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Micol Alemani - , Free University of Berlin (Author)
  • Leo Gross - , Free University of Berlin (Author)
  • Francesca Moresco - , Free University of Berlin (Author)
  • Karl Heinz Rieder - , Free University of Berlin (Author)
  • Cheng Wang - , Center for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies (Author)
  • Xavier Bouju - , Center for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies (Author)
  • André Gourdon - , Center for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies (Author)
  • Christian Joachim - , Center for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies (Author)

Abstract

A Lander molecule is a polyaromatic molecular board supported by four legs. By means of a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (LT-STM), the controlled lateral manipulation in constant height mode of this molecule adsorbed on the Cu(2 1 1) surface is studied. Simulations based on elastic scattering quantum chemistry description combined with molecular mechanics calculations reproduce the STM current recorded during the manipulation. We demonstrate that the main tunneling current is flowing through the central molecular wire even if the STM tip is pushing only on a leg of the molecule. The measured signal of manipulation results principally from the mechanical deformation of the molecular board.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)180-185
Number of pages6
JournalChemical physics letters
Volume402
Issue number1-3
Publication statusPublished - 24 Jan 2005
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-9607-8715/work/142252637